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Steed and Bear arrived Friday evening from MFF, and we went out for dinner and hung out. They stayed overnight and this morning we had breakfast (I made an apple-filled German pancake, with bacon and lots of coffee) and we played around with the horses and dogs and then took photos of Steed in his fursuit before they went back to the hotel to catch the parade and head home. So I got a little bit of MFF without actually having to brave the madness. Went grocery shopping, and observed that the price of gasoline is fluctuating wildly in town here. This week the observed prices have been: Monday about 8 pm, $2.62 Tuesday afternoon, $2.63 Thursday about 8 pm, $2.75 Saturday 2:30 pm, $2.59 Saturday 4:00 pm, $2.57 This is all recorded at the exact same station. Meanwhile, up in Harvard, prices have been locked solid at $2.74 for a couple of weeks. Down in Dekalb on Thursday the price seemed to be $2.59 everywhere I looked, and it was similar to that in Indiana last Sunday. In Ohio I saw one station at $2.39, though, and several at $2.44. Some NaNo progress, gaining ground but not fast enough. Current word count: 19,878 Today's quota: 35,007 Tags: farm, friends, mff, nanowrimo, writing
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood:  busy
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Finally. The last load of hay for the winter got here at 8:30 this morning, so I ended up late for work. In order for the truck and hay wagon to get into the arena, we have to fold up the portable panels that make up Tess's pen. In turn, that means she stays in her stall or goes out to the pasture until the pen can be reassembled. Since I had to go to work and we wouldn't be unloading immediately, she stayed in until the wagon was parked and then we reassembled and put her into the pen as usual. Didn't get to work until 9:45, an hour and change late, but at least the hay business is settled. Making NaNo progress, but slowly. Keeping up with the daily quotas now but finding it hard to exceed them, which I must do in order to make up the 15K words or so that I'm lagging the pace. Still hope to succeed though. I have plenty of material, just some of it is harder to write than what I usually do. More editing is going to be needed to put all the scrambled parts (written out of order) together in the end. My desk is back to normal, more or less. Network problems are not. It seems that sometime while I was gone, someone added enough data mass to the network file server that the overnight backup will no longer fit on one tape. Figuring out who and what on a Windows 2000 environment is not easy. Once again I'm reduced to pressuring people to get rid of old files instead of letting them sit forever. In case anyone is still wondering, no MFF for me. Too big, much too expensive, it has outgrown my size tolerance I think, and I don't like Wheeling Illinois or the Westin at all. Snooty restaurants, inadequate parking, all contributed to my negative response last year. Not doing it again. Have fun if you're going, and be safe. Now, back to the word processor for me. Tags: farm, mff, nanowrimo, work
Current Location: Windy oak grove
Mood:  tired
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OK, so I'm doing something I've never ever done before. I'm writing the end of the book before the middle. Because I know how it's supposed to come out, and I'm having all sorts of blocks at the middle part. Also because I really really dislike Stefan Ulf now and having to write his journal for him is causing brain damage. Really. Remember the garbage disposal replacement I mentioned last week? The drain started to leak over the weekend, so Gary called to have the installer come back out. Then on Monday the bill came, and had written on it the statement that there was no guarantee against leakage because the drain installation was non-standard and the trap was backward. "Customer refused to allow the drain to be rebuilt." Apparently that's a little more severe than what Gary thought he said, but the result was the same, the drain was not rebuilt. No word from the appliance store, so this morning he tackled it himself, using his copious collection of spare parts. We managed to get it to stop dripping, though it seemed quite likely to me that vibration from the garbage disposal or dishwasher would eventually loosen it up again. Given the wording on the bill and the fact that the store hadn't called back, we figured they were washing their hands of us. He went off to a rehearsal. I took Tess out to the pasture at about 2:30 and the dogs started barking while I was back there. When I got back to the barn, I saw that the appliance store truck was in the drive. Sure enough, the installer was back, with the extra parts needed to redo the trap and drain in a more conventional configuration. I didn't want to send him away, even though I know we'll get a second bill for the extra work. So he rerouted the drain pipe in the proper manner, and I'm convinced the problem is settled. We had quite a nice conversation about keeping horses and baking bread, too. Unfortunately, no writing got done while Gary was clanging about under the sink, nor again this afternoon while Gary's work was undone and replaced. Soooo. Desperate to push the word count, I'm skipping ahead to write an easy part. But that means I won't be posting this new work for a while... Tags: farm, nanowrimo
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: tired
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So while I was cleaning stalls this morning the hay supplier called from Wisconsin and wanted to bring down a load for us. Said he'd be here at noon. Gary said yes, we need it. He didn't arrive until 2 pm. Extra big load, 200 bales. OK, we can take all those, except we have to be at the library staff party at 5:30. So we stacked hay, and stacked hay. The temperature was 70F, which is very warm for November. It felt like June as long as you didn't look out the arena door at the bare trees. When we got too tired to throw bales up four levels, we stacked the rest on the floor. Pushed the wagon out of the arena, fed everyone, and rushed in to get cleaned up. We made it to the party at exactly 5:30. It was fun, but I think we were both groggy. Tomorrow I'm doing horse chores and then writing all day. Period. Gary has to go to school, so I'll be here alone and should be free of distractions at last. Oh one other thing. While waiting for the tardy hay delivery, I went through some weaving stuff that was stored up in the barn loft. I wanted the sock loops I knew were there. These are waste from commercial tube sock manufacturing, and look like fluffy versions of those loopers we all used to weave into potholders in cub scouts or whatever. I had about a bushel of them leftover from a project years ago, and they were stored up there. Well, mice had nested in two of the bags. What a mess. Still, about half of the loops were salvageable. The third and fourth bags were pretty much OK. All will have to be washed before using, but that's no big deal. Since I have a rug warp on the loom, and am currently weaving a rag rug out of old jeans, I want to make some bath mats. Sock strips are perfect for that. They soak up water just like a fluffy towel, and weave up into a padded fabric about a half inch thick. Tags: farm, weaving, work
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood:  exanimate
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The good thing about today: had a nummy dinner with friends visiting. Gary made his famous spaghetti and meatballs, friends brought a super salad, we had home made focaccia with caramelized onions on top (my recipe,) wine and apple cider and some green tea someone brought that looks like a petrified moose turd but you put it in a glass pot and pour boiling water over it and it slowly opens up and blossoms into an elaborate floral sculpture underwater, made from tea leaves. Dessert too: Gary's chocolate chip zucchini cake. And all the usual chores too, plus we replaced the boys' water trough because it was leaking. The bad thing: I'm getting farther behind because I'm being so careful writing. So, for anyone who has been waiting patiently for more NaNo output from me (and there will be more, I promise) I offer a story written a couple of years ago, to fill in the gap: Rabbit Food by Altivo Overo. This is furry and has a transformation in it, but no werewolves. ;p Oh, and it got up to nearly 70F today I think, and the sky is still clear and there are stars for the first time in what seems like months. Tags: cooking, farm, nanowrimo, weather, writing
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: exanimate
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I think I'm still not recovered from Wednesday. In the interest of avoiding writing, or editing a guild newsletter that I need to get done, Argos finished warping his loom this evening. I'm sure he'll have something to say about it tomorrow. There are more photos, for the curious. The entire 32 inch wide warp (320 individual threads, which isn't a lot for something that wide) is now threaded, sleyed, tied, and tensioned. The header has been woven, and the loom is ready for the actual weaving process now. We got a new garbage disposal installed today. In the eleven years we've had this house, we have replaced nearly every appliance, including the heating and cooling system. I believe only the water softener is still original at this point. Oh, and the well pump. I don't want to replace that one. We already had it pulled so they could replace the gaskets, though. That was expensive enough. We don't actually use the garbage disposal much, but since we do use the dishwasher, and it drains through the disposal, when the old one died it had to be replaced. In general it doesn't make much sense to grind up food waste and dump it into your septic system, so we compost kitchen waste instead. I'm flattened, though, so I think I'll go be flat (in bed.) Tags: farm, weaving, writing
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: exanimate
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Well, mostly. Thanks to the end of daylight silliness time, the day started an hour earlier by the clock than it would have otherwise. I wasn't sleepy any more and got up. Got lots of regular and not so regular things done, including planning dinner ahead using the crock pot, cleaning stalls, and picking up my show entries from the gallery as today was the last day of the show in Woodstock. What I didn't get started on until quite late was writing, though I spent some time pondering character names and where to start. Nonetheless, I have over a thousand words down now and probably will add more before giving up for the night. The nearly full moon that was hidden by clouds last night has been visible tonight in the gaps between clouds, extremely bright and large. As we were putting horses to bed for the night, a flock of geese passed overhead making quite a lot of noise. It was already quite dark, and I couldn't resist bursting into song: "Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, These are a few of my favorite things..." All it got me though, was a dirty look from Gary. "Not my favorite," he said. "It means snow is coming soon." I kept quiet rather than pointing out that I like snow too, at least at the beginning of the season. Right now it's too warm for snow in any case. Argos has the loom about halfway threaded now, and I expect he'll start weaving within a day or so. Yet another potential distraction from the writing job at hand. Funny how my opening volley depicts the protagonist of the story sitting at his desk and trying to focus on a writing assignment while his attention wanders all over the place. Or maybe not so funny. Anyway, it's November. The Beaver Moon (time to set traps) is coming in just three days. Meanwhile, I need to get busy writing. Tags: farm, nanowrimo, weather
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: sleepy
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